Pinterest fires two engineers who created tool to track layoffs internally. CEO defends decision

Pinterest fires two engineers who created tool to track layoffs internally. CEO defends decision

Pinterest has dismissed two employees after they created an internal tool to track job cuts at the company, an episode that has drawn attention to how workplace power dynamics are shifting amid ongoing restructuring across the technology sector, Fortune reported.

The company confirmed the firings following its recent announcement that it would reduce its workforce by less than 15 per cent and cut back on office space as part of a broader reorganisation that will continue through the end of September. According to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the restructuring is aimed at reallocating resources towards artificial intelligence-focused roles and product development.

Following the layoff announcement, Pinterest’s chief technology officer, Matt Madrigal, addressed employees in a meeting where questions were raised about which teams were affected and whether further job reductions were expected. During the discussion, the company’s chief security officer, Andy Steingruebl, told engineers that leadership would not circulate a comprehensive list of impacted employees, citing privacy considerations and internal policies.

Despite this, two engineers subsequently created an internal tool to identify employees who had been laid off ahead of a scheduled town hall meeting with chief executive Bill Ready. Pinterest said the tool was developed using internal data and shared more widely within the company.

In a statement provided to Fortune, a Pinterest spokesperson said: “After being clearly informed that Pinterest would not broadly share information identifying impacted employees, two engineers wrote custom scripts improperly accessing confidential company information to identify the locations and names of all dismissed employees and then shared it more broadly. This was a clear violation of Pinterest policy and of their former colleagues’ privacy.”

The company confirmed to Fortune that the two employees involved had been terminated.

At a company-wide town hall the following day, Ready addressed the situation and criticised the actions taken by the employees involved. According to audio of the meeting obtained by CNBC, he told staff that while internal debate was expected, there were limits.

“Healthy debate and dissent are expected, that’s how we make our decisions,” Ready said. “But there’s a clear line between constructive debate and behavior that’s obstructionist.”

He added that employees who were “working against the direction of the company” or did not agree with its mission should consider seeking employment elsewhere.

“I know people have natural curiosity around these things,” Ready said, referring to questions around the layoffs. “We shared some of those major structural changes. The smaller ones, those will be communicated at the team level.”

Ready also said the company would not disclose detailed information about individual layoffs because of privacy concerns.

After the article was published, several Pinterest employees contacted CNBC and challenged the company’s account of events. They said the engineers had not created new software but had instead shared instructions on how to use the company’s existing staff directory to identify laid-off employees. According to these employees, the directory was accessible to anyone within the organisation, and the description of “custom scripts” was inaccurate.

Pinterest declined to comment further on the firings but confirmed that the town hall meeting took place.

The incident comes as Pinterest continues to invest heavily in artificial intelligence in an effort to deliver more personalised content, introduce automated tools for advertisers and remain competitive with larger digital advertising platforms such as Google and Meta.

Addressing staff at the town hall, Ready said: “We can’t tolerate from each other obstructionism, especially when we have a mission that is so meaningful but also where the odds are stacked against us. We think we can beat those odds, but as a small purpose-driven player competing against the largest companies in the history of the world, the only way that we succeed is if we work together, constructively, with clarity and focus.”